Avatar

So I was debating reviewing Avatar or Fantastic Mr. Fox first but since Avatar is still in theaters I'd figure I'd go with that.

Special Effects:
This movie is almost entirely special effects in case you didn't know. They are however the best I've or anyone has every seen. That tends to happen when you spend over $300 million making them. They are stunning. The movie is beautiful and the the world that Cameron has created is amazing. Not to say that it is more amazing than any other sci-fi world ever created, but it's towards the top.

3D:
The first movie I saw in the new REAL D 3D!!!!! was Christmas Carol which had Jim Carey playing everyone. I enjoyed the 3D but too many times it seemed like something was always along the edge of the frame to make sure something was in 3D (It was still worth seeing in 3D). Avatar didn't do this. The 3D was done well and made so many shots better (I'm guessing on this because I haven't seen the 2D version). Watching the new Real D 3D takes a little work however. You have to in a way learn to refocus your eyes to get the full effect. After about 30-45 minutes (of the 2 hour 43 minutes film) my eyes were fully refocused to see it correctly (times and dates may vary). Once I stopped noticing the 3D and it just became a part of movie it was splendid. Make sure you see this in 3D.

Story:
This is where almost everyone said the movie lacked and I won't disagree. It's Dances with Wolves, Pocahontas, Star Wars, Star Trek, and a dash or generic sci-fi. That being said the story wasn't bad it just wasn't new. Earth needs this mineral called unobtanium (which is the cheesiest name for something hard to find ever so I will call it kraftmacaroniandcheesetanium from this point on). The humans need this kraftmacaroniandcheesetanium and there's tons (literally) of it on Pandora. So this evil corporation with scientists and ex-military hot heads goes to get some. The military wants to use force to get it but the scientists use the Avatars to learn about the natives. The Avatars are bodies controlled by people from a remote location. So, like a RC car, kind of. Anyways this one guy gets accepted by the Na'vi and trains as one of them. He falls in love and needs to decide who's side he's on. Other than a non-original this is where I have the big problem. So our hero Jake is becoming a Na'vi but also helping the corporation. He is trying to figure out what is right and how to be part of these two very different worlds. The problem is we don't ever see this. At no point do we see Jake actually struggling with the moral dilemma, the "man vs. self" if you will. Everything just happens and we never see this really important segment of the film that so much of the story hangs on.

Characters:
This will short. Too many of the characters are stereotypes. The all or nothing, kill everything general. The The scientist who's all b-a at first and then warms up. I had seen many of the characters before and that's fine but they stayed a little too close to who they always were. I wish Cameron threw out a few of the stops and did something different instead of predictable.

Final:
I liked it but could have lived my life fine without ever seeing it. The visuals are amazing and worth seeing in 3D. I'm a big fan of story telling in film so since this was something I've seen I just wasn't super into it. I was deeply engaged while watching but afterward I was fine leaving it.

Should you see it:
Probably. It's has the best special effects right now. Until this summer when someone spends half the money to make twice as good special effects; this is however a pivotal moment is the special effects world. Also if you can afford the extra money see it in 3D because it's worth it. If you don't have the extra $3 just promise yourself you won't see Transformers 3 whenever it comes out; there I just saved you $9. Now you can help pay for two of your friends to see it in 3D since they still think Transformers 2 was good and the 3rd could only be better.

I'm going to go eat some kraftmacaroniandcheesetanium.